AP Singh refuses to reveal reasons for his resignation from UPSC

New Delhi: Former CBI Director AP Singh on Thursday refused to divulge the reason for his sudden resignation from UPSC but spoke of "tremendous stress" faced by him during the last one year, which is seen as a reference to the controversy arising out of his alleged links with meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

The 1974-batch IPS officer, who headed the CBI for two years, sent his resignation to President Pranab Mukherjee last week, 31 months before his five year tenure as Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member was to end. The resignation has been accepted, Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

62-year-old Singh has been under a cloud because of his alleged links with Qureshi against whom the Enforcement Directorate is said to be planning to register a case for alleged violation of FEMA. Messages between Singh and Qureshi over Blackberry phones showing their close association have been in public domain.

While the reasons for Singh's resignation has remained in the realm of speculation, he issued a brief statement stating that "the reasons for my resignation are given in my resignation letter to the President. Since it is a confidential document I am unable to share the details with the press.

"The last one year has put me and my family under tremendous stress for reasons which are in the public domain. I feel that it is important for me and the family to move on and I intend to devote more time with my children and grand children," he said without making any reference to the Qureshi controversy that has haunted him.

"After a sufficient gap I will consider future options," he said.

Yesterday he sought to explain his resignation by stating that he put in his papers as the special court in Mumbai on December 30 had pointed fingers at him while discharging BJP President Amit Shah on grounds that the CBI case in Sorabuddin fake encounter killings was "politically" motivated.